Population and Employment

Trends in Australia's Population

On January 1^st 1901, the Australian states federated to become the country in which we live today. At that time, the Australian population was just 3.824 million. In December 2003, the population exceeded 20 million for the first time, and in 2007 we passed 21 million. However, other than the fact that there are five times as many of us, there are also some things that haven’t changed much at all.

Today, the largest city in Australia is Sydney, but in 1901 Melbourne was the place to be. In fact, just over half a million people were calling Melbourne home at the beginning of the twentieth century. (To be fair, Sydney was only 5,000 people behind.) In total, 52% of the Australian population lived in towns that were considered “urban” at that time. Our definition has certainly changed somewhat – at the time any town of more than 2,500 people was considered big enough to qualify. By comparison, only 40% of people in Canada, and 35% of people in the USA in 1901 were living in comparable urban centres. In fact, Australia was considered one of the most urbanised countries on Earth.

The impact of immigartion on Australia's population has been significant

We were also one of the richest. After the economic boom of the 1890s, Australians had the third highest income per capita in the world. Only the United Kingdom and New Zealand were able to boast more wealth for their people at that time.

The median age for a person living in Australia in 1901 was 22.5 years. In the 2001 census, the median age for an Australian citizen was just over 40 years old. This is perhaps best explained by the change in our life expectancy; in 1901 a male born in Australia could reasonably expect to live until they were 55.2 years old, but today that figure is 76.22 years. (Females have always lived longer than men in Australia; in 1901 they had a life expectancy of 58.4 years, and today it is 81.77 years.)

In 1901 Aboriginal people were not counted as part of the official census, however some data was collected. From what we know, it is estimated that there were just over 100,000 Aboriginal people alive in Australia at that time. If they had been counted in the population, this would have represented just under 3% of all people in Australia. This figure has not changed much over time. In the 2001 census, Aboriginal people accounted for around 2.6% of the population. It is worth noting that Aboriginal people have been represented in the census ever since a referendum in 1967 suggested that they should be counted. This change was supported by both political parties, and also by over 90% of the Australian people.

Most people in Australia in 1901 were born here – 77% of the population. A further 18% of the people were born somewhere in Britain. Today, around 71% of Australian residents were born here; just over 13.5 million people. Another one million people were born in Britain. Other countries representing the top ten include (in order) New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam, China, Greece, Germany, The Philippines and India.

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